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Harvest Monday - June 28, 2010

Squashes - Zephyr, Sunburst

Eggplants - Rosa Bianca, Senryo Ni Gou

Peppers - Shishito

Greens - garlic chives, Piracicaba broccoli.

I see lots of chive dumplings and pot stickers, 

chive kimchi, and pancakes etc. in the future.

I hand pollinated this baby - Sierra Gold cantaloupe

and this one

and this one, but it looks weird,
it doesn't look anything like the first two, why?

This week's harvest:

Zephyr squash 53 oz

Sunburst squash 18 oz

Garlic chives 24 oz

Shishito peppers 18 oz

Japanese eggplants 18 oz

Rosa Bianca eggplants 19 oz

Piracicaba broccoli 11 oz

Total harvest for the week --- 161 oz / 10.06 lb

To see more harvests by other gardeners visit host of Harvest Monday Daphne's Dandelions.

Garlic Scape Harvest

I need to clarify how I harvest garlic scapes, in May 31, 2010 Harvest Monday post I may have given the wrong impression that all of the scape's lower stem is tender.  It is tender if it is harvested early and you can snap off the stem, otherwise it is not worth the effort to harvest the lower stem; another words if you can easily break the scape anywhere along the stem, it is tender enough to eat.  Let me see if I can convey what I'm trying to say in pictures:

These lower stems are tender, they were snapped off with fingers.

These scapes were harvested early and before the lower stems

become fibrous and woody, they are tender and mild.

Woody stems cannot be broken off with fingers,

they are too fibrous for eating.

These garlic scapes were not harvested in time, the lower stems
have turned woody and not edible.

They look like this after the tough lower stems were cut.

Stir fry garlic scapes with peppers, onion, bamboo shoots,
and braised shitake mushrooms.

Harvest Monday - June 21, 2010

Celebrating Summer Solstice

Summer squashes, peppers, eggplants, and piracicaba broccoli.

I have been picking one or two squashes everyday, and the piracicaba broccoli provides side shoots every two to three days, eggplants and peppers are coming in slowly, maybe I get to pick some tomatoes soon.

This week's harvest:
Celtuce (final harvest) 23 oz
Lettuce (final harvest) 8 oz
Napa (still growing) 16 oz
Broccoli 7 oz

Eggplants 7 oz

Squashes 29 oz
Peppers 3 oz

Total for the week  -- 5.81 lb

I pulled some German Extra Hard garlic the other day to check

for size, most of them are rather small, some are marble size,
hopefully the rest will bulk up soon.  The red skin one in the
middle is a Chesnook.

Visit Daphne's Dandelions host of Harvest Monday to see what other gardeners are harvesting this week.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

What's Growing in Mid June

Tomatoes and eggplants, it's a jungle.

Pompeii paste tomato, major BER problem last year,

there was not a single fruit without BER, I gave up and pulled
 the plant, I didn't get to taste the tomato.  I replanted it
this year and it seems a bit better, so far I've removed four fruits
with BER, the rest of the tomatoes appear to be alright for now.

Senryo Ni Gou Japanese eggplant is the first to
flower and set fruits, Ping Tung is flowering now,
Rosa Bianca is beginning to set flower buds.

Summer squashes -- Zephyr, Sunburst, and chayote (pipinola).

Zephyr

Sunburst

Chayote

Yard long beans share the same trellis with chayote.

Filet beans Rolande --- 40% germinated.
Kwintus pole beans were no show, only one seed sprouted.
I sowed another batch of filet beans Maxibel and a different pole
bean Romano Hilda in a separate bed, waiting to see what's next.

Kabocha Japanese pumpkin.
The smaller plant on the upper right corner is struggling, it will
be removed soon, the lower left corner plant is a

temporary resident Banana Melon.

Five pots of potatoes, I'm growing them for fun, we are not
big on potatoes, but these homegrown ones may change my mind.
One of them has been flowering for about a week already,
maybe I can steal some spuds soon.

Okinawan purple sweet potatoes.

Don't know what's going on here, same Okinawan sweet potato
slips, same soil, same water, only one slip survive in this barrel.

Japanese cucumber.

Experimenting to see how well carrots grow in pots.

Carnival on the left, and Red Dragon on the right,

they were sown the same day, the RD performs much better.

Shishito peppers loaded.

Melons -- Charentais, Banana, Petit Gris, Sierra Gold.

Lots of flowers, but the girls have not shown up for the party yet.

Last year I grew the sweetest Charentais and Sierra Gold 

in Earthboxes, this time they are in raised bed,

wonder they would be as sweet as last year's crop.

Winter melon seedlings -- starting over again.

I lost 2 batches of seedlings to fierce winds, this is the 3rd batch.

Winter melon is slow to start and it takes long time for it

to get going, once it gets 3 sets of leaves it will take off quickly.

Harvest Monday - June 14, 2010

 

I harvested 2 heads of Piracicaba Broccoli before vacation.

A week later I came home to this.

This dark green head is ready for harvest.

This light green head is not quite ready for harvest,
but I picked it anyway, it tastes the same.

Goji also known as wolfberry
I grow this shrub at the old house,
the birds get to eat all of the berries before I see them.
Since the leaves and berries have the same nutritional value
I use the leaves for soup or tea and leave the berries to the birds.

 Click here for more information about goji

I miss my little greenhouse and favorite tea rose.

I miss my plum tree at the old house.

Nanking Cherries at the old house, the fruits are sour, I do not
missed them, but the flowers are pretty.  We planted the shrub to
partially cover a short blockwall fence on one side of the house.

This is the first time I grow and eat Piracicaba Broccoli, we like the taste and texture of this vegetable (I'm not a fan of broccoli), it tastes like Chinese kale with hint of sweetness, not bitter at all, the texture is more delicate than regular broccoli, and you can eat the young leaves also.  This broccoli has earned a permanent place in my garden, it tolerates heat well (we're into 80s-90s now), will it be cold tolerant?  I'll find out in the coming fall and winter season.

Today's report includes last week's harvest which I didn't have time to post:

Piracicaba broccoli -- 24.2 oz / 1.51 lb

Spinach (final harvest)-- 31.4 oz / 1.96 lb

Napa cabbage -- 40.8 oz / 2.55 lb

Garlic chives -- 20.4 oz /  1.28 lb

Garlic scapes (2nd harvest) -- 7.2 oz / 0.45 lb

Scallions (too many, share with friends)-- 23.2 oz / 1.45 lb

Lettuce (moved to shady spot)-- 7.4 oz / 0.46 lb

Mizuna (final harvest)-- 12.2 oz / 0.76 lb

Snow peas (lost to powdery mildew)-- 2.0 oz / 0. 13 lb

Celtuce (first harvest) -- 7.6 oz / 0.48 lb

Goji (leaves only) -- 52.0 oz / 3.25 lb

Sweet basil -- 4.0 oz / 0.25 lb

Japanese eggplants (taste test) -- 4.6 oz / 0.29 lb

Shishito peppers (taste test)-- 2.2 oz / 0.14 lb

Total harvest for June 7 - June 14 = 14.96 lb


Visit the host of Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions to see what other gardeners have harvested this week.

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Yoda

Home Alone

Andy:  Mommy need some R & R

I am taking care of my little brother Mickey.

The plants can croak, I don't do water.